


fall into place

by iwasfollowingyou



Category: The West Wing
Genre: (just a little), Accidental Cuddling, Implied Sexual Content, Kissing, M/M, Pining, Sharing a Bed, honestly idk what more you need beyond "sharing a bed", so we got some BABY boys, this is set during the first bartlet campaign
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 09:06:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18362891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwasfollowingyou/pseuds/iwasfollowingyou
Summary: sam and josh share a bed. what more do you need to know?





	fall into place

**Author's Note:**

> samjosh songs for this one:
> 
> \- contrasting colors - speak low if you speak love  
> \- sleeping with a friend - neon trees  
> \- one more - tyler glenn  
> \- fade into you - mazzy star

Josh was just about ready to fall asleep on his feet when they finally reached the hotel. He was half-listening to Toby and Sam’s conversation about edits to the speech the governor was going to give in Augusta, but his own input was uncharacteristically lacking. He wanted nothing more than to get into a room and pass out as soon as possible. He checked his watch. In less than six hours, they needed to be up again for another full day of campaigning, and he wanted to spend as much of it as he could in a comatose state.

“Alright, everyone,” Leo was saying, and Josh forced himself to focus. “I hate to do this to all of you, but there was a bit of a mix up with the rooms. I’m going to have to ask some of you to share with someone else. It would be nice if I could have some people volunteer before I have to start assigning roommates.” When mild complaining started coming from the group, Leo held up a hand. “We’re all adults here. You can survive sharing a room with another person. It should be just for tonight.”

Sam nudged Josh with his elbow, and Josh glanced over at him.

“Roommates?” he asked.

Josh shrugged. “Yeah, sure.” Sam was the only person on the campaign he could even fathom sharing a room with. Josh liked his personal space. At the end of the day, he needed alone time to decompress and work through planning and issues by himself, without comments from anyone else. Sam got that, though. Josh could live with having a roommate for one night — as long as it was Sam.

Sam chatted animatedly with one of the other speechwriters as they began to disperse to their rooms. Josh leaned against the back wall of the elevator and closed his eyes, doing his best not to pass out right then and there. He tried to focus on Sam’s voice, willing the conversation to keep him awake for just a few minutes longer. The other man got off a couple of floors beneath Sam and Josh, and as he stepped off the elevator, Sam turned to Josh.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” he said, lightly touching Josh’s shoulder. Josh peeked open one eye. “You feeling okay?”

Josh opened his other eye and nodded slowly. “Yeah. Just tired.” He punctuated the statement with a yawn, not even bothering to try to suppress it.

“You need to get more sleep,” Sam commented, like it was as simple as that.

“Sleep is for the weak,” Josh mumbled.

“You’re looking pretty weak right now, if you ask me.”

“But I didn’t ask you.”

Sam rolled his eyes. The elevator doors opened, and Sam led the way down the hallway, eyes scanning each number plate as they passed the doors. Josh trailed behind, trusting that Sam would find the room without any help. Sam stopped three doors from the end of the hallway, and Josh, distracted by his exhaustion, collided with his shoulder.

“Sorry.” Josh stepped back.

“You need to go to bed.” Sam laughed softly. Josh hummed in mild agreement. Sam unlocked the door for them and stepped inside first, turning on the lights. Josh closed the door behind them. When he turned back around, Sam had stopped a couple of steps into the room.

“Sam? Something wrong?”

He looked past Sam and immediately realized the problem.

When Leo had said they would be sharing rooms, Josh had assumed that meant each room would have two double beds. It was the correct assumption, of course, except that apparently there had been some sort of mix-up, because there was only one bed in the room.

Josh cleared his throat awkwardly. “There must have been a mistake…”

Any other night, he would have gone back downstairs and told the concierge that there was a problem. He would have requested that they be moved into a double room, like they should have been in the first place. But as soon as he saw the bed, all he wanted to do was collapse into it and fall asleep.

“I can sleep on the floor,” he offered hesitantly.

Sam shook his head. “Don’t be stupid.”

“I mean, if you’d be more comfortable—”

“Don’t be stupid,” he repeated.

They both stood and stared at each other for a minute. The air in the room felt heavy. Sam’s gaze was inquisitive. Josh opened his mouth, but he couldn’t figure out what it was he meant to say, so he closed it again. It was silent for another moment, then Josh nearly jumped out of his skin as the radiator rattled loudly to life before settling into a gentle hum.

Finally, he shrugged. “Okay, whatever. Whatever you want to do is fine.”

“I’m not stealing the bed from you when you’re this exhausted.”

“We can just call the front desk…” But he knew the hassle probably wasn’t worth it. It was already past midnight, and he really didn’t feel like being the annoying customer complaining in the middle of the night. He could survive one night.

One night in the same bed as Sam. He swallowed dryly at the thought, grateful for the fact that his sleeves hid the goosebumps that he knew were covering his arms. He dropped his bag on the bed and turned away from Sam to start grabbing his things for the night.

They didn’t say much else after that. Sam muttered something about showering in the morning, offering to get up earlier to go first, and Josh had mumbled in agreement, and they had fallen silent again. They took turns changing and brushing their teeth in the bathroom. Josh pulled back the sheets from the left side of the bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress, trying not to think about Sam getting ready for bed on the other side of the wall. He could hear the sink running. He took a second to collect his thoughts.

It was going to be fine. One night, that was it. He could survive a single night. A single night laying only a few feet away from Sam, underneath the same sheets, Sam’s warm skin close to his. He shook his head before his mind could start going down a path that he would really rather it not.

He took one of the extra pillows and laid it in the middle of the mattress as a barrier between his side and Sam’s. As if a single pillow could fix the underlying tension of the entire thing. Josh almost laughed at the situation. A fleeting thought about a vengeful god crossed his mind, and he took a deep breath. It was going to be fine.

He turned off the lamp on his side of the bed and laid down on his side, facing the wall. Sam emerged from the bathroom a few moments later.  Josh could feel Sam’s eyes on him. He forced his breathing to stay even, hoping Sam would think he was asleep. It seemed to work, because Sam didn’t say anything.

Sam finished whatever he was doing on the other side of the room before Josh heard him coming closer to the bed. The box spring creaked quietly, the mattress dipping under Sam’s weight as he slid under the covers.

“Josh?” It was just a whisper, but it reached Josh’s ears as clearly as if Sam had been shouting. He weighed his options in his head before sighing and rolling onto his back to look at Sam. It was a mistake. Sam had changed into a faded gray Beatles t-shirt (something Josh hadn’t seen him wear since Sam was still in law school), and his glasses were perched on his nose, and his hair was nice and soft and unstyled, and Josh’s heart leapt in his chest.

“Yeah?”

Sam smiled at him. He seemed to be better at  ignoring the awkwardness that permeated the space between them than Josh was. “Goodnight, is all.”

“Night, Sam.”

“Kind like _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ ,” Sam commented, and Josh raised an eyebrow. Sam’s cheeks went pink and he quickly mumbled, “You know, with the grandparents all in the same bed. Except we’re not old. Or married.”

Josh wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.

“Yeah. Uh…” He forced a smile. “Night, Sam.”

“Goodnight.” As Josh rolled back over towards the wall, he heard Sam mutter under his breath, “I swear I’m funny.” Josh bit back a grin at that. There was a brief moment of sheets rustling and the mattress shifting under Sam’s weight before the room went completely dark, and they were left in silence.

Any chance of Josh falling asleep had gone straight out the window the moment they had stepped into the room. He could only hope that he could close his eyes for long enough to be able to function the next day. It wasn’t like he hadn’t survived on nonstop cups of coffee before. Sure, he had been looking forward to getting a longer night’s sleep after two straight weeks of four-hour nights, but he could go one more day. It would be fine.

He tried to distract himself from Sam’s presence by thinking through the campaign. The first few primaries had gone better than anyone had expected them to, which had provided them with enough momentum to keep going forward. Though they didn’t admit it, everyone was still nervous. The entire campaign was still on the brink. They had beaten out Wiley, but Hoynes had still had a strong lead. Super Tuesday was looming on the horizon. They could only hope that their predictions had been right, and that Bartlet could come away with enough wins to carry them to Illinois. Josh was amazed that his hair hadn’t gone gray yet, but he suspected it would look more like Leo’s the farther along in the campaign they got.

As stressful as it was, Josh wouldn’t have given up the campaign for anything. Josh thrived on politics. He couldn’t get the adrenaline rushes he got on election nights from anything else. There was something thrilling and gratifying about winning in politics. Getting your guy in the seat was one of the most satisfying things you could do in the professional world.

His dad had wanted him to be a lawyer. He was, technically. He had a law degree. But the actual profession had never interested him much. Even when he had received his acceptance into law school, he had known that he wanted to use it, not in court, but in government. It was one of the few things Josh was absolutely certain of in his life — if nothing else, he was sure he was following the right career path. There was some comfort in that.

Sam, though, was different. He had actually gone into law. Josh hadn’t understood it. During one of their late-night conversations over beer and horrifically unhealthy snacks, Josh had asked Sam what he planned to do with his degree once he was finished. Sam had looked confused for a second, then answered, “Practice law,” like it was obvious. Josh had raised an eyebrow, pausing with his beer bottle halfway to his lips.

“Wait, you actually want to be a _lawyer_?”

“What else would I do with it?”

“Politics?”

“Like you?”

“Yeah, like me. What’s wrong with that?”

Sam had shaken his head. “Nothing’s wrong with it. I just think I want to actually practice law, you know? Seems like kind of a waste of a degree to not do the job.”

It had stung, just a little. “I don’t think I’m wasting my degree,” Josh had said, quieter.

“I didn’t mean you,” Sam had clarified quickly. “Clearly you’re not wasting anything.” His smile was met with a shrug from Josh, and his expression had dropped slightly. “I want to see, though. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll end up in politics for real one day.”

“Well, when I get a President elected, you better be on my staff.”

“Just give me a call and I’ll be there in a second.” 

Josh had smiled then. “You’ll be the first person I call. Promise.”

 _The Dream Team_ , Leo called them — usually mockingly, when they were acting particularly idiotic, but it filled Josh with pride anyway. Because they worked so well together, well enough that most of the staff thought they had been working together for years. Because Josh had fulfilled his promise, and Sam had made good on his word, letting Josh pull him into politics, and he was excelling, and it filled Josh with an enormous amount of pride. Toby was an amazing speechwriter (Josh could tell after hearing only a couple of paragraphs of his work), but Sam added something more to it. Sam twisted language in a way that made it sound like music. Josh thought that maybe in another lifetime, Sam would have been an author. He certainly could have been.

Josh silently cursed himself for letting his mind wander to Sam. It happened more than he liked to admit. Usually, it got worse when he was tired or drunk, but he couldn’t deny that there were some completely sober moments when Sam was rambling about one thing or another, or working through some language, thinking out loud, that Josh had found himself staring, transfixed on Sam’s lips or eyes or hands, until someone said his name loudly enough that he snapped out of it.

Sam’s soft breathing was almost deafening. Josh didn’t think he should have been able to hear it, not over the hum of the radiator and the distant sound of the highway outside the window, but it drowned out everything else. Josh squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the sheets in his fist, fighting back the urge to roll over and look at Sam.

He had seen Sam sleep before, but never like this. Every other time was when Sam was still fully dressed, usually still in his shirt and tie, slumped over a table or laying on a musty couch in whatever building they had taken over as the campaign headquarters. This Sam, though, soft and warm and tired, in an actual bed, was an entirely different creature. Josh wasn’t sure how it made him feel. He wasn’t sure how it was supposed to make him feel.

“Go to sleep,” he muttered to himself, willing the command to actually make it happen. Of course, it didn’t, and he laid there in painful silence for way too long, watching the minutes tick by on the clock near his head. The last time he remembered, as he finally began to fade out of consciousness, the bright red numbers displayed 2:46 A.M. When he opened his eyes again, they read 3:24 A.M., and there was a weight laying across his chest.

His breath caught in his throat as he slowly came to the realization that it was Sam’s arm, that Sam Seaborn’s arm was draped over Josh as he slept, and his legs were close enough to Josh that they were touching, just barely, but it sent chills throughout Josh’s entire body.

The pillow that was supposed to serve as a barrier had migrated down to the foot of the bed, and Josh glared at it, as if it had somehow become sentient and made the decision to remove itself from the space between Josh and Sam.

The space between Josh and Sam that no longer existed.

He finally remembered how to breathe and exhaled slowly, conscious that any movement might disturb Sam.

It should have been uncomfortable. Having Sam this close to him should have felt _weird_. It should not have felt good. It should not have sent a rush through Josh’s chest, a spark of electricity that traveled from his heart all the way to his fingertips. It should not have felt _right_. It should not have felt like an inevitable occurrence, something that had been bound to happen for weeks, for years. It should not have felt like the most natural thing in the world, having Sam cuddled up to him, warm against his side. He should have gently pushed Sam away, turned back onto his side, and fallen back asleep.

He should have. But he couldn’t bring himself to.

Instead, he closed his eyes and tried to force his heart rate to slow down. It was beating so fast that he was concerned that Sam could feel it. Josh took another shaky breath. It was fine. Everything was fine.

He couldn’t fall back asleep. When he opened his eyes to check the clock again, it read only 3:32 A.M. He bit back a frustrated groan. It was beginning to dawn on him that there was no chance of getting another wink of sleep. He was cursed to lay awake for the next two hours, until the phone rang with their wake-up call, and he would have to pretend that he hadn’t been wide awake the entire time, make a joke to diffuse the tension of Sam waking up with his arm across Josh’s chest.

He started coming up with ways he could react to the situation without making Sam feel awkward. If he was straight, or if Sam had _thought_ he was straight, he could have brushed it off with a light “I’m flattered, dude, but you’re not exactly my type.” But Sam knew, had known since the summer they met, because Sam was the only person Josh had trusted enough to keep his secret.

He couldn’t act disgusted. For starters, he never could have made it believable (he had never been a great actor). And he couldn’t bear to even think about the hurt expression that would cross Sam’s face. Nothing made Josh feel like a shittier person than when he pushed a joke just a hair too far, and Sam made that face for a split second before forcing a smile and laughing it off. He couldn’t act disgusted, because he wasn’t, because he was perfectly okay with what was happening.

Sam started shifting, making soft noises as he pulled himself out of his sleep. Josh forced his breathing to remain slow and steady, eyes shut tightly, as if Sam wouldn’t know he was faking from just one glance. Sam made a quiet sound of surprise, and Josh almost smiled as he imagined what Sam’s face looked like, still half asleep and confused.

The warmth of Sam’s body started moving away. Josh, acting entirely on impulse, without a thought crossing his mind, closed his fist around the fabric of Sam’s t-shirt. Sam’s movement stopped immediately, and they both remained frozen for a second. Josh heard Sam’s breath hitch.

He slowly opened his eyes. It took a second for him to adjust to the darkness of the room again, but Sam’s face quickly came into focus. He was propped up on one arm, staring at Josh with his lips slightly parted and eyes darting back and forth nervously. Josh’s mouth went dry.

_It has to be illegal for him to be this pretty._

“Sorry,” Sam mumbled. “I didn’t — I’m not — I’m sorry. Sorry.” He tried moving away again, but Josh shook his head and tightened his grip on Sam’s shirt. Sam swallowed visibly. “Sorry.”

“No,” Josh said simply.

“What?”

“S’okay.”

“What?” Sam repeated.

“I didn’t — I didn’t mind,” Josh admitted, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth.

Sam kept staring at him. Josh shrugged nonchalantly, pretending his heart wasn’t racing in his chest, beating so hard he was slightly worried it was going to bust out of his ribcage.

“I’m just going to… I’m sorry.” Sam tried moving back one more time. Josh tugged him closer, and Sam, unprepared for the force, fell forward into Josh. His chin collided painfully with Josh’s shoulder, and they both let out quiet grunts. There was a beat of silence before Josh started laughing breathlessly, then one more beat before Sam joined in.

Josh blamed the fit of giggling that followed on his exhaustion. It was another few minutes before they both settled down, but every few seconds, a noise escaped Sam’s lips again, and Josh smiled each time.

Finally, Sam lifted his head to look at Josh again, and Josh forgot how to breathe.

“Sorry,” Sam said again.

Josh shook his head. He swallowed around the weird lump in his throat. “If I have a bruise tomorrow, I’m suing you.” His voice sounded slightly strange to his own ears, but Sam didn’t seem to notice anything.

Sam snorted. “Don’t be such a baby. It was your fault, anyway.”

“You can’t prove anything.”

“Fuck off.”

This was okay. They were back to normal.

Except they weren’t, because Josh’s arm was pinned underneath Sam’s weight, and Sam didn’t even seem to notice. It should have been uncomfortable. His arm was started to go numb, blood flow cut off by Sam’s body, but Josh didn’t care. It felt right.

Sam settled back in, slightly hesitant as he rested his head against Josh’s collarbone, arm resting across his torso again.

“Is this okay?” he asked quietly.

Josh nodded. “Yeah,” he managed to choke out, then cleared his throat. “Yeah. This is okay.”

He felt Sam nod, then take a deep breath in and out. Silence fell over them once more. After a few moments, Sam’s breathing evened into a steady rhythm as he fell asleep on Josh’s chest. Josh glanced over at the clock. 3:48 A.M. In just under two hours, the phone would ring, jerking Sam out of his sleep. Josh’s arm subconsciously tightened around Sam’s upper back.

Just one night.

Two more hours sharing a bed with Sam.

He wondered if they would discuss it, or if it would be one of those things that they never brought up again, both too uncertain of how they were supposed to feel about it. One of those things, like a drunk, sloppy kiss the last night before Sam went back to school, something they could blame on too much alcohol or too little sleep.

They didn’t need to talk about it. Unless Sam brought it up, Josh was prepared to just tuck it away along with the other moments like it, shove it deep into the back of his mind where he wouldn’t let himself dwell too much on it. He couldn’t afford to dwell on it. They had a campaign to win.

The clock read 4:13 A.M. Josh still felt half-asleep, straddling the line between awake and not, unsure of where his dreams ended and reality began.

He couldn’t tell whether Sam’s hands on him were a dream or reality, or if Sam had really moved even closer, his legs tangling with Josh’s under the covers. Josh dragged himself up out of his post-sleep haze, clenching his fist as hard as he could to focus on what was actually real.

Sam, at the very least, was real.

Josh was pretty sure that Sam’s hands moving over his torso, the light touches sending sparks across Josh’s body, were real.

The quiet noises falling from Sam’s lips were real.

Sam shifting even closer, his body heat seeping through two layers of fabric to touch Josh’s skin, was real.

“Josh?”

It was just a breath through the darkness, and Josh was almost certain he had imagined it before Sam lifted his head and looked him in the eye, and Josh stared at him, lips parting just slightly.

“Sam?” he whispered.

“I’m — I’m sorry. I just — sorry.”

Before he could stammer out another word, Josh grabbed him by the t-shirt. There was one half-second of silence when Josh fleetingly thought _If I fuck this up, I fuck it up_ before he yanked Sam in, crashing their lips together. Sam gasped, and Josh pulled away.

“Okay?”

Sam nodded vigorously, and Josh kissed him again, tightening his fists around Sam’s shirt. For a second, he felt bad that he might accidentally stretch it out, but when Sam deepened the kiss, he could no longer bring himself to even pretend to care. Sam pushed himself up onto his hands, hovering over Josh and kissing him bruisingly hard. Josh released his grip on Sam’s shirt to slip his hands into Sam’s hair, sliding his fingers through the shorter strands on the sides before finding purchase in the longer section and tugging lightly.

After what felt like a simultaneously too long and too short segment of time, Sam pulled back. They opened their eyes and stared at each other, chests moving up and down in sync.

“Josh,” Sam murmured, shifting his weight to one arm and brushing a thumb across Josh’s cheekbone. Josh gasped softly at the contact, closing his eyes. The gentle touch of Sam’s hand on his cheek was even more of a shock to his system than Sam’s lips had been. Sam leaned down to kiss him again, slower this time, gentler.

Josh moved his hands from Sam’s hair to roam over his body, skimming over the curve of his shoulder, then across his back. He hiked up the bottom of Sam’s shirt to touch his skin, and he felt Sam shiver. Josh grinned into the kiss. Sam was warm. So warm. His mouth was hot against Josh’s. Josh felt almost as if he was in a sauna, with how warm he was. He never wanted it to end. He lightly scratched his fingernails across Sam’s spine, and Sam moaned softly into his mouth.

This was okay. This was more than okay.

Josh had never been a huge believer in any god, but Sam’s kisses could make him a religious man.

Then Sam’s body was covering his completely, his hips moving restlessly against Josh’s, and Josh’s breath got caught in his throat.

“Sam,” he whispered, gripping Sam’s waist.

“Hi,” Sam responded, eyes bright and a light smile on his lips.

“Hi.”

“You okay?” Sam asked gently.

Josh nodded. “Very. Very okay.”

Sam’s smile widened, and he pressed a teasing kiss to the corner of Josh’s mouth before trailing burning kisses down his jawline. Josh tilted his head to give Sam better access. Sam’s breath was hot against his neck. He shivered and let out a desperate whine as Sam’s lips brushed over his pulse, his teeth scraping lightly over Josh’s skin.

“Careful,” Josh choked out. “Can’t — don’t leave—”

“Don’t worry, I know how high your shirt collar goes,” Sam murmured, and Josh felt his cheeks flush. Sam tugged gently at his t-shirt, and Josh started to sit up. Sam failed to move back quickly enough, and their heads collided. They each jerked back in surprise, and Josh brought his hand up to his forehead.

“Oops,” he said, laughter rising in his throat again.

“Didn’t think we were so clumsy,” Sam muttered, the corner of his mouth twitching up.

“You’re talking to the guy who still has a bruise on his thigh from walking into a table last week.”

Sam snorted at that. “Ridiculous. You really are ridiculous.”

Josh grinned. “Yeah.” He leaned in to kiss Sam again before remembering what his initial goal was, then breaking away and pulling his shirt over his head. He threw the pesky fabric to the side, then tugged at Sam’s shirt. Sam rolled his eyes playfully.

“Have a little patience, would you?”

“I’ve never been a very patient person.”

“It’s a virtue, you know,” Sam chided.

“Shut up and take your damn shirt off, Seaborn.”

Sam laughed again, and Josh grinned, because _he_ made Sam make that beautiful noise. Then Sam pulled his shirt off, and Josh lost his breath again. Sam pushed him back down onto the mattress, and Josh could do nothing but let it happen. Their eyes met. Josh had spent a lot of time thinking about how pretty Sam’s eyes were, but seeing them up close like this was like seeing things in a whole new way.

“Still okay?” Sam asked softly. His tone had changed, and Josh could tell that he was nervous, and he wished that Sam would just shut up and kiss him again. But Sam was looking at him with slight fear in his expression, and Josh knew he needed to be reassured.

Josh nodded. “Yeah. Yeah. I’m okay.”

“This — this is okay?”

“Sam,” he murmured, kissing him lightly, “what’s going on in that big brain of yours?”

Sam sighed, averting his gaze. “I just don’t want… I don’t want to change things—”

“I think we’ve already changed things.” They were coming up on the point of no return, if they hadn’t passed it already. Josh wasn’t sure _exactly_ where the point was, but he guessed that making out with each other shirtless in bed was not going to be one of the occurrences they could ignore.

“I don’t want you to regret this.”

“Are you drunk?”

“What?” Sam shook his head. “No.”

“Am I?”

“I’m assuming not.”

“So, we’re both in full control of our actions right now.”

“…yes.”

“And we’re both okay with what’s happening.”

“Yes.”

Josh smiled. “I can guarantee I’m not going to regret this. So, can you relax, please? I’d really like to get back to what we were doing.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry for freaking out.”

“It’s okay.” Josh kissed him. Sam made a pleased sound, returning it immediately, and Josh felt quite proud of himself. Then Sam broke away, and Josh whined quietly, but he quickly shut up when Sam returned his lips to his neck. His fingers found their way into Sam’s hair again, and he pulled. He was quickly discovering several ways to make soft groans fall from Sam’s lips, and he filed the information away for later.

 _Later_. Would there be a _later_?

As content (and eager) as he was to let the whole thing pan out, there was a thought nagging at the back of his mind that Sam was expecting this to be a one-time thing, a freak event that would never happen again. The idea cause Josh to tighten his hold on Sam’s hair, and Sam was momentarily distracted from where he was strategically marking Josh’s chest. Sam looked up at him, and Josh couldn’t help but let out a groan.

“Fuck,” he whispered. Sam grinned wickedly at him. “Sam…” Sam placed a soft kiss to his chest, just under his collarbone. “I don’t — I didn’t… we don’t have any…”

Sam stopped and pulled back, expression dropping. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Josh grimaced.

“I mean, we could still…” He trailed off, and Josh had to bite back a groan at all of the possible ways Sam could have finished that sentence.

“…I have some ideas.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, his mouth quirking up. “Do you now?”

“I’m full of brilliant ideas.”

“That you are.” Sam kissed his lips again, and any worries Josh had been having before were pushed to the side for the time being, because he was kissing Sam, and he didn’t really care about anything else.

—————————————————————

The clock read 5:09 A.M.

Josh wondered if it was worth it to try to sleep for twenty more minutes. It would have been easy, he thought, to pass out for another four hours, so long as Sam stayed cuddled up against him, his skin burning against Josh’s even without the blankets keeping the heat in.

Sam was still trailing light kisses across Josh’s collarbone, lips barely touching his skin. He traced back over the red marks lining Josh’s chest.

“There’s no tank tops for me in the near future,” Josh commented softly, running a hand lazily through Sam’s hair.

Sam smirked up at him. “It’s freezing outside. And I don’t think you’ve ever worn a tank top in your entire life.”

“Most of the hotels have pools.”

“Did you bring a swimsuit?”

“No,” he admitted.

“So, it should really be no problem.” Sam pressed one more kiss to Josh’s shoulder before settling next to him and resting an arm across his stomach. Josh turned his head to look at Sam, smiling softly. Sam pecked his lips.

“Hi,” Josh said.

“Hi, yourself.” Sam laid his head back down on the pillow. “What are you thinking about?”

“Hm?”

“What’s on your mind?”

Sam could read Josh like a book. A small smile teased at Josh’s lips, and he kissed Sam’s temple. He trailed a light finger down Sam’s arm before lacing their fingers together, their interlocked hands settling on Josh’s stomach.

“Thinking about whether it’s worth it to try to sleep.”

“Wake up call is at five thirty?”

“Mmhmm.”

Sam glanced over at the clock. “Think it counts as more of a power nap at this point, anyway.”

“Your fault I’m gonna be sleep deprived.”

“Yeah, drama queen?” He smiled and kissed Josh again.

“Mmhmm.” Josh smiled. “Means you’re in charge of providing me with coffee whenever I ask.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Seems a bit unrealistic.”

“You brought this upon yourself.”

“If I recall correctly, _you_ kissed _me_ , Lyman.”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who decided to get all cuddly in the middle of the night.”

Sam laughed quietly. “You kind of have a point there.”

“I win every argument, Samuel. Don’t even try.”

“Who’s the lawyer here again?”

“Both of us.”

“Who practiced law more recently?”

Josh rolled his eyes. “You, but you’d never be able to tell, based on how bad you are at arguing.”

Sam did his best to look offended. “Maybe I just let you win to protect your fragile ego.”

“Fragile ego?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck you.”

Sam grinned and kissed his cheek. “See what I mean?”

“You’re the worst.”

“You say that like I’m not aware of how you feel about me.”

He didn’t think Sam was aware of how Josh felt about him. He didn’t think Sam knew about the warmth that spread through his chest whenever Sam looked at him, or the endless nights Josh spent thinking about him, about his bright eyes and smiles and his pretty lips. He didn’t think Sam knew that he had been pining after him since the day they met. He didn’t think Sam knew that Josh had truly fallen for him the moment they had kissed for the first time, lips tasting like vodka and cherries and rum, when it shouldn’t have meant anything, but it was _Sam_ , and Josh had no chance but to fall and to fall _hard_.

“Are you?” he asked softly, no longer teasing.

Sam bit his bottom lip, gaze questioning as he looked at Josh. Josh got the feeling that he was being examined under a microscope, and it was slightly uncomfortable, but Sam could already read Josh’s mind just by making eye contact, could gauge Josh’s mood from just a glance at his face. Had it been anyone else, Josh would have squirmed and averted his eyes and mumbled something to change the subject. Instead, he met Sam’s eyes willingly, searching his expression.

“I think so,” Sam finally said.

“What do you think?”

The corners of Sam’s mouth turned up. “I think… I think you have feelings for me. I don’t know how strong, or for how long, or any of that but… I think they’re there. I think you’re kind of scared of it, because you’re not sure, and you hate being uncertain about anything. I think you enjoyed this whole thing more than you’d ever be willing to admit, because if you admit it, you have to be vulnerable.”

He let go of Josh’s hand and lazily dragged his fingers in swirls across his torso, sending shivers across Josh’s body.

“I think you’ve been wanting something like that to happen for a while. I think you were counting on me making the first move, because you thought that maybe that one time was an accident and I don’t actually like men.”

Josh swallowed hard, trying not to let his expression reveal anything, but it didn’t matter, because Sam knew anyway.

“I think you’d be okay with it happening again.”

His hand flattened out against Josh’s stomach, and he slipped it around to hold his hip lightly before leaning in and kissing him slowly. Josh made a soft noise as he returned the kiss, shifting the arm that was underneath Sam up to hold him tighter.

When they broke away, Josh was smiling.

“Do I think correctly?” Sam asked.

Josh nodded. “Yes.”

Sam grinned and kissed his nose, and Josh laughed softly. “Good, because it was going to be really mortifying if I was wrong.”

“I was hoping I wasn’t sending mixed signals,” Josh said quietly.

Sam shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Didn’t confuse you?”

“Maybe a little at the beginning.” Sam shrugged. “You’re an enigma, honestly, but I think I’ve got you pretty much figured out.”

“Seems like it.”

Josh kissed him. Sam’s grip tightened on his side, fingers pressing against his hipbone, and Josh thought that he wouldn’t mind if Sam’s touch left bruises. His torso was already littered with them, small red marks scattered across his skin in seemingly random patterns, but all placed carefully enough that they would be hidden as soon as Josh put on a shirt. Sam’s chest had a few matching marks, not quite as many, but Josh had definitely made his presence known. He felt like a teenager as he gazed over Sam’s chest, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t fully enjoy the feeling of leaving marks on each other’s skin.

It made it feel more permanent — like it wasn’t just a one-time thing that they would try to forget, because the marks would remain for a couple of days. Josh already wanted to repeat the cycle as soon as the bruises faded. He wanted to repeat it right then and there, add to Sam’s collection of bruises.

There was no time for that, to his great disappointment. He glanced over at the clock. 5:19 A.M.

“Still have eleven minutes,” he mumbled, pulling Sam in tighter and nuzzling his face into Sam’s hair.

“Could save a few.”

“How’s that?”

“One shower instead of two.”

Josh laughed softly, looking down at Sam, who was smiling innocently, but there was a wicked gleam behind his eyes. “You’re something else, Seaborn.”

“I’m smart.”

“Yeah, you are. Genius.” He kissed the top of Sam’s head lightly.

“Josh?”

“Hmm?”

“Was I right about… uh, you know, you – you wanting this to happen again?”

A loud laugh escaped Josh’s throat, and Sam jumped. “Sorry. Sorry. I mean, obviously. I thought it was pretty clear from how desperate I was that I would be _very much_ into this happening again.”

Sam nodded, smile widening, and Josh couldn’t resist the urge to kiss him again. He didn’t think he was ever going to be able to resist kissing Sam ever again. Now that he finally could, he wanted to kiss him every chance he got. Leo probably wouldn’t be too happy about that. Josh laughed again.

“What’s so funny?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Would it be a terrible idea to thank Leo for this?”

Sam snorted. “Yes. I think it would.”

“Be funny, though.”

“It’d be traumatizing.”

“For me or for him?”

“Yes.” Sam kissed his cheek. “Leo said we get our own rooms at the next hotel, right?”

Josh hummed. “Yeah, we should.”

“Maybe we should tell him we’re willing to take one for the team and share again. It’ll save us some money, you know. Economical.”

“Maybe we should,” Josh mused, winking at Sam. Sam laughed and hit his chest lightly.

“Pervert.”

Josh shook his head, blinking in surprise. “You’re really calling _me_ a pervert, Seaborn?”

“Isn’t that what I said?”

“Go to hell.”

“Not today. I’m pretty happy with sticking around here.”

Sam leaned in and kissed him again, shifting their position so he was holding himself up over Josh again. Josh let his eyes close as he kissed back lazily, no longer quite as desperate as he had been the first time he had yanked Sam into him. Sam pinned him down by the shoulders, firm but not overwhelming, his hands warm against Josh’s skin. Josh sighed contentedly against Sam’s lips, enjoying the feeling that they could have stayed there forever.

Then the phone rang, a shrieking tone erupting from the bedside table, and Sam jumped in surprise, tumbling off of Josh. They both groaned softly. Sam blindly reached for the phone and held it up to his ear as Josh pulled his pillow over his ears.

“Hello?” Sam said into the receiver, voice rough. “Yep, thanks.” He hung up and sighed, letting his arm fall over the edge of the mattress. Josh rolled towards him. He leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to the base of Sam’s neck, then worked down his spine. Sam shivered underneath him, the hand that wasn’t dangling off the bed gripping the pillowcase. Josh nosed lightly at Sam’s shoulder blade. He had absolutely no desire to get out of bed, not when Sam was like this, all sleepy and warm and pretty.

“What time are we supposed to meet downstairs?”

“Six thirty,” Sam said, voice slightly muffled by the pillow.

“How fast can you get ready?”

“Think my record is five minutes.”

“Ten’s enough then?”

“Most likely.”

Josh grinned. “So, what I’m hearing is that we have almost a full hour before we actually need to get out of bed.”

Sam looked back over his shoulder. “I think you heard correctly.”

“And we certainly need to do _something_ to fill the time, wouldn’t you think?”

Sam rolled over onto his back. “I would agree with that, yes.”

“Wonderful.” Josh leaned in to kiss him again, and Sam tangled his fingers in his hair as he pulled him closer. Josh had never in his life been grateful for a hotel fucking up, but he was considering writing a thank you note to the staff at the front desk.

And if they were five minutes late to the staff meeting, Josh’s hair still damp from the shower and Sam’s tie only half-done around his neck, no one needed to hear an excuse beyond, “We missed the wake-up call.”

Leo sighed and shook his head. “Don’t let it happen again, got it? How two grown men slept through a wake-up call I’ll never understand.”

“Sorry,” Josh said sheepishly, and Leo gave him a look. He gave his most winning smile, but Leo didn’t seem affected.

Sam, tightening his tie and smoothing out his shirt, glanced over at Josh, and Josh winked with just an attempt at subtlety. Sam’s cheeks went a light pink, and a sense of pride filled Josh’s chest. Despite the lack of sleep and knowledge that it was going to be an exhausting day, he felt like he was walking on clouds.

After the meeting, Sam brought him a cup of coffee.

**Author's Note:**

> my brain said "samjosh bed sharing fic" and i had to. you know the drill: kudos, comments, etc. x


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